Land Sales and Rental Markets in Transition: Evidence from Rural Vietnam

Impact and desirability of land transfers in post-socialist transition economies have been subject to considerable debate. We use data from Vietnam to identify factors conducive to the development of land markets and to assess potentially differential impacts of rental and sales. Results show that both rental and sales transfer land to more productive producers but that rental is more important for the poor to access land that becomes available as the non-farm economy develops. The fact that secure land rights significantly increase supply of land to the rental market suggests that government has a key role in facilitating emergence and functioning of efficiency-enhancing land markets.Land Economics/Use,

LAND MARKETS IN UGANDA: INCIDENCE, IMPACT AND EVOLUTION OVER TIME

Although there is broad agreement that well functioning land rental markets will play an important role to increase productivity and household welfare as agrarian economies develop, evidence from Africa on the actual performance and impact of such markets is limited. We use data from Uganda to test for differences in the performance of rental, as compared to sales markets and their evolution over time, based on a framework where markets are affected by differences in ability and imperfections in rural labor and capital markets. We find that land markets are very active, that land rental but not sales markets transfer land to more efficient and relatively poor producers thereby providing an opportunity for the landless to access land, and that rental market activity has increased recently with economic growth. Despite land prices in some regions being above the net present value of land we find no evidence for sales markets leading to land concentration and conclude that, rather than imposing administrative restrictions, government should aim to improve access to alternative savings instruments.Land Economics/Use,

Securing property rights in transition: Lessons from implementation of China's rural land contracting law

While recent studies point towards the importance of institutions, in particular secure property rights, as key determinants of economic growth, options to foster institutional change to make property rights more secure are not well understood. Data from 800 villages all over China on the effectiveness with which a law aiming to increase households' tenure security -at the expense of local leaders' powers to reallocate or expropriate land without adequate compensation- provides an opportunity to identify such factors. Using illegal land reallocations and low compensation payments for expropriated land to identify lack of effective institutional change, we find that the impact of property rights reform is contingent on the institutional constraints imposed on leaders' power by democratic institutions and a clear legal framework, households' knowledge of the law, and to some extent presence of land certificates.Land Economics/Use,

ASSET OWNERSHIP AND WORKING CAPITAL CONSTRAINTS IN A POST-REFORM ENVIRONMENT: IMPLICATIONS FOR SECOND GENERATION REFORMS IN ZAMBIA

Using a 5,000 household panel from Zambia, we find that asset ownership, but not access to fertilizer, has an extremely important impact on output and that investment in oxen would yield returns above the market rate. Policies should thus focus on asset ownership more than on short term working capital.Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics,

Going Digital: Computerized Land Registration and Credit Access in India

Despite strong beliefs that property titling and registration will enhance credit access, empirical evidence in support of such effects remains scant. The gradual roll-out of computerization of land registry systems across Andhra Pradesh’s 387 sub-registry offices (SROs) allows us to combine quarterly administrative data on credit disbursed by all commercial banks for a 11 year period (1997-2007) aggregated to the SRO level with the date of shifting registration from manual to digital. Computerization had no credit effect in rural areas but led to increased credit-supply in urban ones. A marked increase of registered urban mortgages due to computerization supports the robustness of the result. At the same time, estimated impacts from reduction of stamp duty are much larger, suggesting that, without further changes in the property rights system, impacts of computerization will remain marginal.Land Registration, Credit, Transactions, Computerization, India, International Development, Land Economics/Use, G28, Q24, R51, R52,

Land Rental Markets in the Process of Rural Structural Transformation: Productivity and Equity Impacts from China

While the importance of land rental for overall economic development has long been recognized in theory, empirical evidence on the productivity and equity impact of such markets and the extent to which they realize their potential has been scant. Representative data from China's nine most important agricultural provinces illustrate the impact of rental markets on households' economic strategies, their welfare, and productivity of land use at the plot level. While there are positive impacts in each of these dimensions, transaction costs constrain participation by many producers, thus preventing rental markets from attaining their full potential. Factors that increase transaction costs are identified, together with a rough estimate of the productivity- and equity- impact of removing them.Land Economics/Use,

Economic and Social Impacts of Self-Help Groups in India

We use a combination of pipeline comparison, propensity score matching, and double differences to evaluate economic and social impacts of a large community driven development program in India. While we find positive empowerment and nutritional effects for households in program areas, allowing heterogeneity of program impact yields additional insights. First, social and economic empowerment increased equally for participants and non-participants in program areas, pointing towards positive externalities. Second, nutritional benefits were more pronounced for new participants than for members of pre-existing self-help groups who joined the program. Third, evidence of higher consumption -but not income or asset formation- by new and converted participants suggests that at the point of the survey, the program's main economic impact had been through consumption smoothing and diversification of income sources.Food Security and Poverty,

MEXICO'S EJIDO REFORMS: THEIR IMPACT ON THE FUNCTIONING OF FACTOR MARKETS AND LAND ACCESS

The constitutional reforms undertaken in Mexico in 1992, as well as the systematic implementation of a program of land rights regularization (Procede), aimed to improve the security and transferability of property rights in order to create the pre-conditions for better functioning of factor markets in rural areas. The paper examines the extent to which this has materialized by exploring systematic differences over time between certified and non-certified ejidos as well as the private sector. We find that land rental markets function better in ejidos that underwent Procede, where there was also a marked increase in households' use of common pasture land. At the same time, neither the reforms nor Procede appear to have had much impact on land sales markets and ejidatarios' credit access. Implications for policy and program design are discussed.Land Economics/Use,

Do new delivery systems improve extension access? Evidence from rural Uganda

The literature has long identified lack of rural diversification and low intensity of input use as two key constraints to sustainable and pro-poor growth in Uganda. We use data from a large nationally representative survey to demonstrate that broader access to agricultural extension could increase diversification and input use and that a surprisingly high level of farmers (more than are actually reached) would be willing to pay for such services. Although willingness to pay increases with wealth, illustrative simulations suggest that, due to knowledge spillovers, policies to respond more effectively to the demand for extension services would also benefit the poor.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Poverty Impacts of India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh

Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Labor and Human Capital,